developerjake

I'm in this situation, except it's really messed up... I am a leaseholder in a block of Council flats. The building is 3-stories, and ~9m tall. Five years ago my block of flats had all of the doors replaced (£880 each) "in accordance with fire safety regulations". They said that these refurbishment works included "replacement door and frame (door set) which are compliant 30 FD 4 panelled doors along with the associated ironmongery which includes door viewers, security chains, letter plate and numerals". After they did the work, we looked at our doors and found that they are FD30S doors, in that they also include the intumescent strips and smoke seals. That's all fine... but fast-forward to today, and now they are trying to replace our FD30S door sets again, this time... with FD30S door sets (again). When we asked why, they said the following: "The current doors to a number of flats within [REDACTED] are not fully certified FD30s door sets, and while I can see some of the components we would expect to see in an FD30S doorset, they have not been installed together and tested as a complete set to achieve at least 30 minutes fire resistance from both sides. For this reason it has been recommended that these doors are replaced with complete certified composite FD30s doorsets, as per current legislation." Is it me, or is this insane? We have in writing from the Council that all of our doors are FD30 rated doors, and were invoiced when these works were completed. We don't specifically have anything saying they are smoke doors, but you can clearly see that they are. We have tried to get basic information from the Council regarding these works for a year. They have ignored all of our requests, both written and verbal, even thoughout the consultation period. To summarize these issues: When the FRA was done We don't have a copy of the FRA or know what's on it We don't have a itemized breakdown of costs which explains why the works are 480% more expensive than last time (£4,200 per door set vs £880 5 years ago) We don't know what regulation has changed requiring FD30S door sets installed as independent parts to be entirely replaced by composite FD30S door sets The Council and their contractor continue to ignore all of the tenants and our requests, and are pressing forward with the works as of last week and intending to invoice us, and have us pay for these works. It's insanity!! Can anyone help us to understand why our existing FD30S door sets are not adequate? Are there actually new regulations that require do FD30S door sets to be replaced like-for-like with composite door sets if they were not installed all at the same time? If that is true and our doors are not up to current legislation, thus requiring replacement, aren't the Council thereby liable for a criminal offence having left all of the tenants here at risk of death from fire (The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 - clause 1.2)? I also noticed that the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: fire door guidance - clause 6.5, states that since 23 January 2023 any Fire Risk Assessments must include checks on flat front entrance doors on both sides - we know for a fact that this has not been done. Please Save Our Souls! 🙏🙏🙏 Any help of advice will be a God-send as they are undertaking the works now!